Sources: wickedreport.com
Definition: Inequity is the status of being unfair or unjust. The huge gap of income between the rich and the poor is a kind of inequity.
There are different kinds of inequities, such as economic inequities, social inequities, etc. Following the principle of capitalist society, the differentiation among social classes with the disparity of wealth accumulation is inevitably a bloody mark in our monetary era.
However, besides these inequities which are familiar to us, there is another inequity we might ignore most time. It is called ecological inequity.
One form of ecological inequity arises and exacerbates with the overwhelming trend of globalization. With the free movement of capital, some global corporations can easily take advantages of poor developing countries, exploiting their natural resources and cheap labor while transferring pollution and environmental destruction into others' vulnerable territory. The picture above shows a Chinese worker is collecting the electronic waste. According to some report, everyday more than 4000 tons of electronic waste is produced and a big amount is being imported to China.
Gap always accompanies with development. Countries with less resources are more vulnerable to depletion of their resources. It seems that these countries are less powerful in setting laws or other tools to protect their own resources. And, some commercial contracts are tricky; they prevent countries from protecting their own resources and environment.
ReplyDeleteI am interested that you chose inequity as a topic. What actions can designers take in dealing with inequities? These are typically large scale problems created by governments or corporations, so a thought on how architecture or urban planning can change this would be empowering.
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